Fear and Loathing In, Well, Just Fear and Loathing
by Elendil Star-Lover
Summary: Part 2 of the Secrets Series: The Party find themselves on a futuristic world and their most valuable asset finds himself incapacitated. Meanwhile, Sarabi may not be on a killing spree and she may have found another species to do that for her: Magog
1. End of Secrets in the Dark

Fear and Loathing In--Well, Just Fear and Loathing By Elendil Star-Lover  
  
Chapter one: End of "Secrets in the Dark"  
  
Cute, little, red Scarecrowmon. My friend. My first friend. So who cares if I was not his first? He was mine, right? If it weren't for him, I'd be bat chow. More then likely, actually, I wouldn't have met Kari. After all, Scarecrowmon as a champion figured it all out. He knew.  
  
I still have to admire him. Not only was he killed because--for--because of me, he left his partner behind. Left her to be used as a tool, because she, and therefore he, knew. They knew the Darkness would win the girl either way, so the children were more important then Sarabi. I could never guarantee that I'd have the strength to do the same.  
  
From what Ken had said of her and what we'd seen of her as Sailor Saturn, Gennaii had done a good job of altering his data to fit Sarabi's and hers alone personality type. They were strong and brave, fast, agile, and above all, had the inner strength to do what was right, at any cost.  
  
He was a marvel of engineering. Standing hardly two feet tall, he easily passed as a human child, and did so. His hair vaguely resembled straw, but was softer and silkier, maybe like corn silk. The same material stuck out from his sleeves over his gloves and his pants over his boots, which were all re leather, well worn. The gloves zipped just like his in Champion form did, complete with crescent moon-shaped handles. His jumpsuit, too, was red. And the hat, which was topped with the same skull. The cape was, again, red, and tattered at the bottom, and clasped with a smaller skull. The effect was a tinier, red Wizardmon, and he was beautiful.  
  
I missed him, those few years in-between. I thought of him almost as much as I thought of Kari. I was at the Primary Village every day, seeking the description of a Magic Digi-Egg, and never found one. I cried often, but hid it. No one saw, I made sure of that.  
  
I wanted my friend, my first friend, his sympathy, his dumb jokes, no one else's. I wouldn't take *their* pity. They didn't understand what it had been like, those long years of torment and despair. Three of those years had been spent tailing the newbie I had dragged out of the desert around, ensuring that he didn't mess up. Sometimes, I was forced to-to punish him for mouthing off. And I remember wondering why Myotismon didn't simply dispose of the impudent young mage. I guess, now I know.  
  
Back then, Wizardmon, which was his name then, told me that I reminded him of someone. He never told me who, he just went temporarily deaf or said he couldn't place description with name or face or that he never told me such a thing, even when I told him that I'd rip the stitches from his pale blue- grey lips. Especially then.  
  
But I guess that Scarecrowmon told me about Sarabi back then, in an illicit way. In the silent, secretive Wizardmon way.  
  
He'd never been too open about his past, and I knew the reason for that, too. If the Darkness ever got to Sarabi, it would-will, use her to take over the Multiverse. He assured me that I cannot win a fight with Sarabi by myself, and that he doesn't even want me coming along, but I never listened. He is my friend and needed my help. I only wonder how Queen Growltiger figured the Darkness would make a go for her daughter anyway.  
  
I stared at him, illuminated by the full moon outside of Kari and Tai's room. He had been there since the two kids went to bed, hours before. We'd left him there, out of pure mercy. He needed his space. After all, Tai cried for three hours straight when the Digimon Emperor took control of MetalGreymon, and I knew perfectly well how little the little magic master cried. I'd heard of him doing it once, when Elecmon put him to bed in Gennaii's villa, and that hadn't even lasted five minutes. He never even cried when he was beaten-or when Myotismon ripped the stitches from his mouth. Or when my friend was-when he had been dying at my feet, surrounded by strangers, even me, for he had guessed the real me, but never seen her, alone and away from his beloved Angel of Music.  
  
I wondered if it was healthy for him to be in so much pain and not let it out. To keep it pent up, like the soda bottle someone shakes until it explodes. I'd seen how crazy he could *act*, so how crazy would he really be at the end of this?  
  
"Heh, heh," the soft, accented voice from the windowsill sighed.  
  
"What?"  
  
It laughed again, "Didn't you see it?"  
  
"See what?"  
  
"The funny image I had as soon as I heard you think about the soda bottle involving my head flying off in a shower of sticky, fizzy Dr. Pepper."  
  
I smiled. At least he was talking again. That was an improvement. And the demented-ness was almost normal.  
  
"You haven't said a word since Gennaii's," I noted, and remembered the scene. We were all about to sign up for yet another do-or-die mission involving things beyond our comprehension when Scarecrowmon had come down the stairs. He had insisted on going until he and Gennaii, who had been almost a father to the boy and his, err, Valkyrie partner, had started arguing. The scene had looked like the teenage human boy about to be disowned arguing with his parents. In the end, Gennaii gave his consent, and Scarecrowmon was going to be our guide.  
  
"Nothing to say," he whispered. He was so-quiet. Never moving, his eyes always on the starry sky outside, so close you could almost touch them-and yet so far. It scared me. My Wizardmon had always been in motion, not so still, not even blinking. Just for the humor of it I piped up, "I thought I told you never to read my mind without permission." He didn't laugh like he used to, didn't tell me how natural it seemed to hear-  
  
I bounced onto the windowsill beside him, just to be near him, "What's it like?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"To read minds."  
  
He never moved. I couldn't even see his stitched lips working. Hech, I realized that I knew so little about him, my first best friend, that I wasn't even sure that me moved them *to* speak.  
  
He was beautiful. An elf-child. So innocent, and little, and afraid of anything bigger then him, which is nearly everything. On the other hand, he is selfless and brave. I love him, but does he love me like-he loves Sarabi?  
  
Sarabi. The name meant "Angel of Music". From what Ken, Gennaii, Elecmon, and Scarecrowmon had said, a cover for something that was nowhere near an angel. She was defensive, mischievous, smart, strong, conniving- Wizardmon made Valkyrie. In addition, female. She was pretty, too: sleek, slender, graceful. She was small, but only to minimize energy output so that she could maintain her wings. In Valkyrie form, she still had a streamlined body, covered in glossy black and white tiger-striped fur that even days in a dungeon had not wiped the glow from. Her wings were the most catching of her features, bat-like, glossy black and absorbed light energy to fly.  
  
To fly--! How wonderful it was to be in Wizardmon's arms and over the glowing city, which spread beneath us like the star-filled sky above! Not even her pointed teeth or retractable claws could compare to those shining hematite wings!  
  
"It's okay," that cute, beautifully accented voice mused neutrally.  
  
"What is?" He'd interrupted my thoughts and I'd forgotten where I'd left off at.  
  
"You asked about reading minds. It's okay. Different minds sound different."  
  
I was intrigued. I figured Sarabi knew all about it, but this was the first time I'd heard what it *felt* like.  
  
"How so?" I asked.  
  
He didn't shrug, but he sounded like he might have in any other situation, "Sociopaths don't *feel*. I can hear what they are thinking, but not their emotions. Warm, caring people, like you even way back when, Kari, Ken, Trista, Gennaii, Elecmon-you all *feel* more then you sound. Minds with shorter attention spans don't sound like complete sentences, but many emotions and meanings all in a small space."  
  
"What does Sarabi's mind feel like?"  
  
He did the implied-shrugging again, as if he'd never given it much thought, which he probably hadn't, "Depends. When she's 'predatory', like earlier at the Dark Ocean, sociopathic, but short attention span. When she's normal, warm and short attention span."  
  
Why did I have to ask that? If my friend already hadn't been noticing it the whole time anyway, he'd know I was almost jealous.  
  
Scarecrowmon lifted his red-gloved hand and pointed to a tiny, yellowish pinprick of light in the sea of its brothers and sisters.  
  
"That," he said, "is her Guardian Star, Saturn."  
  
Do you like her better then me?  
  
For the first time all evening, he blinked, and then turned his head to look at me, slowly because he must have been stiff.  
  
"You are my friend. Isn't that enough?" he asked with such startled simplicity that he clearly thought that reasoning should have been sufficient.  
  
"What?" I demanded sharply, a little startled myself. What did he mean by that? Were his emotional problems affecting his communication skills? Maybe his mind?  
  
He laughed a little and ran his gloved fingers on mine, "I haven't acted like it, but I missed you."  
  
I put my claw over his collar, about where his lips should have been, "You've had things on your mind." I paused for a second, "What was it like in Limboland?"  
  
He tore his eyes away from mine, "I don't remember. I remember boredom, and why I stayed, but I don't remember exactly what happened or what I heard there."  
  
"Why'd you stay?" I was afraid of the answer.  
  
"First, I remember thinking that something could happen to you and Kari. Then I was afraid for Sarabi."  
  
He laid his blond head against my white silk shoulder, "I'm afraid for her. I miss Sarabi."  
  
Then he did something I only heard of him doing one other time (I never actually saw it).  
  
He cried.  
  
Here's the deal: I am almost halfway done with this story, but I won't put any more up until I get five reviews. Then, when I put the second chapter up, I'll wait for five more reviews, get it? There's the little review box, talk to him, he's lonely. 


	2. I'll Protect Her

Chapter two: Yes, Mrs. Kamiya, I will Make Sure Your Daughter Does Not Die While We Track a Valkyrie That Can Make Planets Explode Through Time and Space.  
  
ALL RIGHT!! I got a little.. enthused. NO MORE FREEBIES!!  
  
As always, I don't own Andromeda or Digimon or Creed lyrics. I would also like to point out a few things: How come Gato never thought about Wizardmon 'cept during "Ghost of a Chance"? What's this "Golden Radiance" (okay, all who saw the movie know what that is, but still) and how come the brought in new stories without clearing that up? Don't they know that plot holes result from starting a sequel before the original, or am I missing something?  
  
The house was quiet. No smoke alarms were going off, no fire trucks were going by, and the television was not on. Tai and Kari must have been telling their mom where Kari, me, and the "cute little green-eyed boy" were going. I could only imagine how that was going to be. Screaming, yelling, and "you could die easily".. Just for heaven's sake don't tell the woman that the girl we're chasing is a biker chick in leather that can blow up planets.  
  
I stretched in my warm spot on the rug with the sun shining in on my back. Oh, well, lovely day to die. The birds are singing, the flowers are blooming, and the mice are begging to be chased. I stopped speaking (or thinking) to myself and gazed at the window for my friend.  
  
He wasn't there. Tai must have picked him up and carried himself downstairs to eat before we start our mission. Digimon get weak when we get hungry and Scarecrowmon needed his strength more then any of us, being more powerful and about to attack his partner.  
  
I stretched again, and yawned, and finally padded my way down the stairs to the kitchen where no doubt a feast of tuna and sardines awaited me, yummy, yummy. I took my time, the idea that I might actually die this time was starting to sink in and I was hoping that I could hold it off or hang on to my present condition (which was being alive). But by the time I reached the last blue-carpeted step, the realization must have hit Mrs. Kamiya full force.  
  
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'LL BE GOING AWAY AGAIN??" her *normally* gentle voice bellowed, followed by a thud. She'd just blasted someone out of a chair.  
  
I entered the flowery, homey kitchen and found my breakfast beside Meko the Cat's bowl. I sniffed at it to make sure the little thief hadn't touched it and took in a little more of the scene.  
  
Tai was picking himself up off the floor piece by piece, while Kari was trying to coax her mother out of tears. My friend, Scarecrowmon, was sitting on a stack of encyclopedias watching Kari and her mother very carefully. The plate of pancakes in front of him dripping in syrup, honey, and powdered sugar had not been touched. No doubt Kari's mom would be force-feeding him within the hour.  
  
"No, not I can't let you go--!" Mrs. Kamiya was protesting through her sobs. She had her face in her hands and was throbbing with each tear. Scarecrowmon watched her with an intent look in his green eyes; I figured he was reading her mind.  
  
"Momma, I'll be okay. I'll have Gatomon, Ken, Wormmon, and Scarecrowmon with me," Kari whispered in her mother's ear.  
  
"No, n-no! You can't go! I don't care what happens! Why do you have to go? She's Biker tra--"  
  
Scarecrowmon glared at Mrs. Kamiya with a devilish look that said that maybe she did not want to finish that sentence. Tai's CD player upstairs picked up with a Creed song, the volume up high and getting higher. It made my ears hurt and they rang with the sonic pressure.  
  
*Peace is what they tell me*  
  
"You said she's a danger and I don't want biker trash like that--! The girl probably has three kids!!"  
  
Scarecrowmon glared at her in a way I didn't think he was capable of that would give small children nightmares. It scared me. The music was vibrating the floor beneath me and my eardrums were throbbing.  
  
*Lies are what they tell me*  
  
"Just let this thing go! Leave it alone! What's it done to you?"  
  
*Despise you that control me*  
  
"You could all die!"  
  
*The peace is dead in my soul*  
  
"It's not your fault! Let someone else take care of saving the world for a change!"  
  
*I have blamed the reason for my intentions are poor*  
  
I put my paws over my ears. The room was vibrating and pictures were falling off the walls and shattering. Mrs. Kamiya had to shout to be heard and even then she was still drowned out by the lead vocalist. My head was splitting open from the noise. Was Scarecrowmon doing this?  
  
Suddenly, the music died. A pale and badly shaken Tai stumbled down the stairs. He was trembling all over and was eyeing Scarecrowmon with an amazed look.  
  
Scarecrowmon turned his small head slightly, "I prey you never find out."  
  
Mrs. Kamiya stared at him blankly, "What?"  
  
Scarecrowmon sat there for a second and then answered in so little emotion it was scary, "What I'm really capable of."  
  
Mrs. Kamiya seized on the two conflicting ideas at work: Scarecrowmon is a child and he has power that could rival Sarabi. He is fourteen, but due to staying in the Great Beyond, still has the mentality of a nine-year old (Digimon level up automatically when they hit a certain age or if they gain enough experience due to extreme pain, or during playtime or training. Sacercrowmon was trained alongside Sarabi, and the way he tells it "tag with Sarabi started out as a game and ended as search and destroy, complete with medics."). But add this to someone who could Warp Digivolve to BlackWarMagemon and make planets explode, he was a gold mine of reasons why no one should track Sarabi.  
  
"He's just a baby! And what if he gets hurt? What if he loses his temper again?" she rambled over and over again.  
  
"Mrs. Kamiya," the soft voice of my friend muttered. "I have protected Kari with my life before. As long as I was around, not harm came to her. I will keep your daughter safe, I have before. I am not one to go back on promises or to fail."  
  
Mrs. Kamiya lifted her aching, tear-streaked head. Her brown hair was matted into her scalp in a wild pattern like a bird nested in it.  
  
Scarecrowmon smiled (something he did with his eyes since they showed what his mouth could not), "I will try not to blow her up with sonic vibrations again."  
  
There was a knock at the door. Tai answered it, after being gestured to it by his mother.  
  
"WHAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU! SOMETHING POPPED! WE HAD AN ACCIDENT DURING BREAKFAST, KEN!"  
  
Kari smiled, "That's Ken. I have to go, mom. Don't worry, I'm in good hands."  
  
I rode carefully on Kari's shoulder. The smell of adrenaline was on the verge of making me high, and the last thing I needed was to collapse in the street, on top of Scarecrowmon, and get us both hit by a car. Kari, very loudly and half-deaf, told Ken about the events of the morning and the evening before, Scarecrowmon held Kari's hand lightly, like a child, because she treated him more like a human child then a Rookie Digimon.  
  
"If he's that powerful as a Rookie, why didn't he use it against Myotismon?" the dark-haired boy asked.  
  
"I'm right here."  
  
"Don't know. Maybe it's subconscious. He has been through a lot in the past twenty-four hours," Kari answered thoughtfully.  
  
"Right, but-"  
  
"So how do we plan on catching Sarabi, anyway? I mean, assuming that her killing streak has started, where are we going to look? Our Digivices can only get us to Digiworld and the Dark Ocean. I doubt Sarabi's overtaking Digiworld when she can move between dimensions like Gennaii said she could, and neither of us are in a hurry to revisit the Dark Ocean," Ken kept the conversation flowing, ignoring poor, little Scarecrowmon.  
  
"You know, if you have questions, you could ask someone who knows."  
  
The little magic master looked up at me on my partner's shoulder, "Do many humans treat children like this?"  
  
I laughed, "Only older ones to younger ones. I thought the woman who raised Sarabi and trained the two of you was human?"  
  
Scarecrowmon answered, "Yeah, but she was thousands of years old thousands of years ago. She was a loner because an apprentice Timekeeper must be raised by the reigning Timekeeper to understand all there is to know about guarding the Gates of Oblivion. Therefore, she was lonely."  
  
"Oh. Is that what Sarabi's home is called? Pleasant name." Then thinking on what he said, I added, "Is that why you are so precocious? I mean, humans have a tendency to look at humanoid Digimon and treat them like humans but it doesn't seem to me like this Sailor Pluto of yours was likely to talk to you and Sarabi in baby talk."  
  
Scarecrowmon shrugged, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Each known universe has its individual name. Since this one is the one where the Gates of Oblivion were discovered, it's called 'Earth Prime'. And, yes, I was treated like a human child but never babied."  
  
I paused, "Just how many universes are there?"  
  
Scarecrwomon giggled slightly. He had a habit of doing that when he really did not want to talk about something, and I knew it was futile trying to pry it out of him.  
  
"So just how do you plan on getting us to the Gates of Oblivion?"  
  
Scarecrowmon laughed again, "Yes, just ask me anything., how to beat video games, how to get to the Gates of Oblivion-" he looked directly at Ken- "What to do on your report on Bach."  
  
Ken paused for a second and turned around. When he did, Scarecrowmon was holding some kind of mini-naganata. The weapon had been pulled from mid air. It was light, streamlined, and deadly sharp. Pure gold and intricately designed, it looked like the one Sailor Saturn carried. I giant black pearl was set in its head.  
  
"What is that?" Ken asked. "It looks like the same thing Sarabi had at the Dark Ocean."  
  
"This," Scarecrowmon explained, "is only a copy. It'll get us to the Gates of Oblivion, but it doesn't have the great power Sarabi's has."  
  
Kari shifted her weight from foot to foot nervously, "W-what can she do with the real one?"  
  
Scarecrowmon muttered weakly, "Sarabi can manipulate time." 


	3. Home is Where the Hurt Is

Chapter three: Home is Where the Hurt Is  
  
Oh, just forget the five review rule..  
  
"Okay, so how does it work?" Wormmon asked. He scratched an antenna with a single one of his many purple-tipped legs.  
  
Scarecrowmon ran his gloved hands along the gold of the weapon in his hands and smiled softly, as if he was remembering some of the best times of his life. I thought my might have even seen a single crystal tear forming at the edge of his green triangular left eye.  
  
My friend straightened up and directed his eyes to an empty ally to the right of the busy street, away from prying eyes. Again, I wondered if maybe his ability to read minds was something he failed to remember others could not do. I shivered about it, too. Great power is its own suicide button, Ken and Myotismon, my former master (Wizardmon never called him that), were great examples of that.  
  
Once in the dark, decrepit alleyway, Kari, Ken, Wormmon, and I stared at the little red mage. What wheels were turning beneath that mask and beneath that beautiful blond hair? That scythe, Demi-Silence Scythe, I later found out it was called, didn't look like a way for us to get anywhere but a sack of fresh grain.  
  
"It is that kind of thinking," Scarecrowmon laughed, "that almost got you killed. The failure to see what's below the surface, the unobvious as well as the obvious, you should work on that, as you will be farther from wherever 'home' is then you have ever been. Ever."  
  
Before I could demand an explanation, Scarecrowmon thrust the scythe into thin air and dragged it down, slashing a gash *in midair*! Scarecrowmon turned around and gave us a sly smile, and stepped gracefully into the open portal. My partner and our friends fallowed my friend's lead, and wished we hadn't.  
  
The place that Sarabi, possibly Scarecrowmon as well, called home was the single most depressive place aside from Hades. There was no color, aside from Kari's pink sweater and blue jeans, Ken's white shirt and blue jeans, Wormmon's green and purple body, my brown and green gloves and the purple on my tail and ears, and Scarecrowmon was a streak of red. Everything else was black and dismal. A heavy fog moved beneath our feet, so dense that we actually would have broken the knife, not that we could have seen to cut it. It was dark, darker then Myotismon's castle.  
  
I have heard some very bizarre things come out of Wizardmon's mouth before. I have heard him say that he was unafraid of Myotismon. I have heard him say he was in no pain after Mytotismon beat him senseless for a day and left him to die in the slaves' quarters (that was Myotismon's idea of being nice: beat them every other day until they are near death, then give 'em a day to rest, as opposed to beating them to death, slowly over the period of a week). "Way back when", I heard him say he did not obey Myotismon, he followed me because I am his friend. However, nothing prepared me for what he said next.  
  
He smiled, purist ecstasy lighting up his expressive green eyes in a way that tugged at my heart, "Welcome to the Gates of Oblivion. Welcome home."  
  
Ken gaped, "You call *this* home?"  
  
Scarecrowmon had his eyes closed, silent tears of joy (and maybe, loss?) ran down his unseen cheeks, "Not even the Sky has felt this close to home since the Primary Village."  
  
Kari smiled gently, "You must have loved Trista and Sarabi very much!"  
  
For a second, I thought I saw Scarecrowmon playing tag with a laughing girl who looked just as much like a bat-winged tiger as a human and a dark- haired woman who had an impression of great age.  
  
"Very much, indeed."  
  
Wormmon eyed Scarecrowmon very cautiously, as if he was afraid of hurting the boy's feelings (if anything, Scarecrwomon was no older the rest of us, but had gained more experience by training with Sarabi the way I gained more by surviving Myothismon's torture, however, Scarecrowmon still had the mind of a nine-year-old, since as far as he was concerned, the past five years had not happened, save for when he showed himself as a ghost and BlackWarGreymon).  
  
Note to self: ask Scarecrowmon about that.  
  
Scarecrowmon pointed off to the general left and said, "Let's go this way, I need to get something."  
  
We walked for about twenty minutes with total silence. Scarecrowmon was off in dreamland re-living happier times and the rest of us were simply too scared to ask any more questions. The place was creepy and foreboding. We didn't like it, nor could we see how Scarecrowmon could call such a dismal place "home".  
  
Finally, we reached a change in environment. It was little more then a set of curtains surrounding a bathroom that was only makeshift because I couldn't tell where the pipes ran to, two beds, a side-turned trunk that served as a closet, and a dresser, all made out of a beautiful, rich, red mahogany.  
  
Scarecrowmon ran to the dresser and started digging through all kinds of miscellaneous items. I started to watch from Kari's shoulder. I saw him pick up a small diamond-shaped necklace and stuff it his pocket, mutter something about having the sense to leave it, and continue rummaging. Finally, he grabbed a wood and silver music box with tigers and panthers of all sorts of colors and held it up triumphantly.  
  
"What's that?" I asked.  
  
He opened the box and revealed a small supply of tiny, silver and green, glimmering microchips.  
  
"These," he said, "Translate. Swallow them and they attach to your brainstem and connect to your brain."  
  
Ken shifted, "I don't think I want anything else stuck to my brain."  
  
Scarecrowmon laughed, "I've got one already. They're safe."  
  
Ken smirked, "You have one? Now I'm worried." All the same, the former genius picked up a chip and swallowed it. He choked for a bit, but that didn't last long. Then he shivered a little, like he'd just swallowed bad catnip and a cold pill at the same time. Kari, Wormmon, and I each picked one up and swallowed it. After a few seconds, I could feel tiny electric impulses running to my brain. It felt *really* cool.  
  
"Aren't you going to take one?" Kari inquired.  
  
Wizardmon shook his head, "Got one."  
  
From his perch on Ken's shoulder, Wormmon noticed a bunch of pictures. Some featured the same dark-haired girl or woman with a sad, wistful smile, a smile of loneliness. In the pictures of her and Sarabi and/or Scarecrowmon, her smile was much more.. warm and happy.  
  
"So," Wormmon picked up the conversation, "If this 'Trista' person is supposed to be adopted mother to you and Sarabi both, where is she?"  
  
Scarecrowmon stared at his soft leather-encased feet and softly muttered so low that it was hard to here, "I have been afraid to ask that question."  
  
Kari protectively put a hand on my friend's shoulder, "I'm sorry."  
  
Wiz--Scarecrowmon--my friend, swallowed hard, "Trista Meioh gave life and love to all she touched. She never wanted to hurt anyone, but it was her destiny, and mine, and Sarabi's. And yours, Gatomon.." the boy wan almost too choked up to talk further, but not quite, "And I'm afraid it killed her." 


	4. Sailor Mini Moon

Chapter four: Sailor Mini Moon  
  
Kyer-Try a search engine, but be careful. With Sailor Moon-related topics, you often find out more about the characters then you wanted. This will probably be the only chapter that covers Sailor Moon when it's not explaining something until later. I have an idea for the end of this series that that will be just as much Sailor Moon as Digimon.  
  
Kari pulled back, "I shouldn't."  
  
Scarecrowmon shook his head, "Asking questions is good. In addition, justified. There is little that you know for certain about me, and you wish to make it certain."  
  
I smiled, "That's why it is so unlike you to *not* ask questions, Scarecrowmon."  
  
Ken cleared his throat, "You can read minds. You know the punch line of a joke before it's told, but you never say a word to anyone about yourself. Do you think that puts everyone else at a disadvantage to you?"  
  
Scarecrowmon shook his head, eyes twinkling, "No."  
  
"Have you ever been around anyone WITHOUT a chip in their head that made it impossible for you to read their minds and felt that they were disadvantage?"  
  
".No."  
  
"Have you ever-"  
  
"Ken?"  
  
Ken looked up at my other friend, "Yes, Kari?" That was excessively innocent for Ken. He didn't like the little red mage, and it was going to be a long trip.  
  
"Shut up," Kari hissed in a way that sent shivers up my spine. She was very protective of those younger then her-  
  
"Mini Tiara Magic!"  
  
Scarecrowmon jumped, his eyes were as big as sand dollars, "Hit the dirt!"  
  
Our little hunting party slammed into the ground (or whatever it was, heavy, heavy, heavy, dense fog, maybe) with almost literally years of experience and training in the basic idea.  
  
"What the heck was that?" Ken asked incredulously.  
  
"I am the Temporary Guardian of Time! I am the Mini Scout of the Moon, and on behalf of the Moon Kingdom, you shall not pass!"  
  
Scarecrowmon burst into raucous laughter.  
  
"What the heck are you laughing at?!" Kari screamed with her face buried into the "ground".  
  
Scarecrowmon rested his small head against his even tinier hand, "Open your eyes."  
  
I followed his instructions. The girl was a slender-built beauty in pink. Her hair was light pink and in pigtails topped off with.meatballs? She was dressed in a pink (naw, duh) sailor outfit a *lot* less revealing in the one Sarabi had been in and was placing a gold and ruby tiara back on her head.  
  
"The Council put an in-training, wet behind the ears, Sailor Mini in the Gates of Oblivion?" Scarecrowmon laughed.  
  
The girl blinked, waved the fog away, and cheered, "Oh! You're just some Digidestined and your partners. Why, a kitty, a rookie Wormmon.and a *CUTE* little wizard-type!"  
  
Scarecrowmon's eyes widened and all of the little color in his face drained away. The girl rushed at him as if she was going to hug the little one, but he leapt into the air and hung there using a familiar form of levitation.  
  
"If you lay a hand on me, Princess," he hissed, "I will ensure that Neo Queen Serenity will think twice about sending you here again."  
  
Mini Moon put her hand on her hip, "You're so small that I doubt you could do much. Not like Sarabi, now *she's* got firepower. Probably more then Hotaru, which is interesting because they are the same Sailor."  
  
Ken inquired, "Did you see Sarabi?"  
  
Mini Moon blinked, "Yeah, she went down that way. She looked a little dazed. I thought maybe something happened, since she took off time to go and battle this Digimon Emperor guy."  
  
Scarecrowmon pointed his gloved hand off to the right, "That way?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
He was in motion before anyone had any say and he shouted at the girl, "If you talk to Se--! Sa--! Your mom, tell her it's not safe and get a fully- trained Scout on the job!" 


	5. Lessons of Sailor Scoutdom and Phantom M...

Chapter five: Lessons of Sailor Scout-dom and Phantom Mesmer-ness  
  
In this chapter the world where the crossing lies shall reveal itself.  
  
It was all starting to thoroughly tick me off. Every few seconds, Scarecrowmon looked to his right and muttered, "No, no, no", as if he could see something. He kept staring at his scythe all the while, too.  
  
"Just *what* are you looking at?!" Ken finally got mad and shouted.  
  
Scarecrwomon giggled, "Trust me, you don't want to know."  
  
"Why? What do you see?" Kari asked.  
  
Scarecrwomon shook his head, "Nothing you don't, and I just know this thing's not reacting, it should if she's gone through one of the doors."  
  
"What doors?" it was my turn.  
  
Scarecrowmon snapped his fingers, "Those doors." Thousands upon thousands of doors revealed themselves to us. Each one had its own nameplate hanging off what looked like a doorknocker on its wrought gold surface.  
  
Ken groaned, "How many are there?"  
  
Coolly, the red mage answered, "Presumably an infinite number. No one has ever tried to count."  
  
".and you've been to them all?" Kari wanted to know.  
  
"A good many, see, not all of these doors lead to different dimensions, some lead to different *time* and place. If it happened since the end of Silver Millennium in Earth Prime, I've been there."  
  
The former genius inquired, "So.. what's the difference between a Sailor Mini and other Sailors? And why couldn't Gennaii and this.. Sailor Pluto just call you by your Digimon name?"  
  
Scarecrowmon responded by hissing and growling in a language that was not thought up by an omnivore. Those growling syllables had to have come from the mouth of something more.. predatory.  
  
"Didn't catch that," Ken answered.  
  
"That was Valkyrie for you try and teach an infant whose language was little more then sharp growls and clicks to say 'Botamon', and *then* we'll talk. As for Sailor Scout power levels, each Scout starts its training as a Sailor Mini, who then graduates to full Sailor, Super Sailor, and more. Oh, look, she went this way."  
  
Scarecrowmon pointed at the very top of his scythe where the black stone set in its head was glowing. He turned toward the door that the instrument reacted to and read the tag for us.  
  
"Andromeda. Pretty and tranquil enough." 


	6. Sinti

Chapter six: Sinti  
  
Can you people guess where I sent 'em? Here's a hint: Brush up on your Gene Roddenberry. In addition, did you people know you make a really cute pattern in my review box-Kyer, Blackmage, Blackmage, Kyer, Kyer...  
  
Scarecrowmon walked through the door and Ken naively followed.and fell six feet to have the wind knocked out of him. The door opened up six feet in the air and Scarecrowmon knew it, so he levitated. He glanced down at Ken and I promise I heard him giggle. Then he turned to Kari and me and helped us climb down by politely offering his short, slender arms.  
  
I looked around. We seemed to be in the middle of a spaceport. Huge ships with thick hulls floated over us and there were buildings taller then skyscrapers! The air smelled of oil and grease and the sky was black with smog. I coughed. What a horrible, fascinating place!  
  
Kari breathed, "Tell me we're not on earth."  
  
Scarecrowmon pressed the stone on the scythe like a button and then a transcript written in the same illegible language from the doors appeared and hung in the air, "We're on a planet called 'Sinti' someplace out of the Milky Way. That's all I know."  
  
His pale ears perked up and he slowly lifted his head toward the rooftops.  
  
"Why do I doubt that?" I asked dryly.  
  
"Ssshhh!" my friend hissed. "We're being watched. She knows we're here."  
  
Wormmon shook my hand, "Is that good or bad?"  
  
Ken and Kari looked at each other and my partner muttered, "We'd better Digivolve."  
  
Kari reached for her D-3, but Scarecrowmon grabbed her hand, "NO!! Don't, she knows we're here and she has my scent. Digivolving will give our location away faster."  
  
Ken shrugged, "If Sarabi can smell you already then it's only a matter of time."  
  
Scarecrowmon shook his more then half-hidden head, "No. You couldn't survive a fight with her. She generates her own electricity, but has no defenses against it, so it takes more then would kill *you* just to stun her. Electric attacks won't work. She's too fast for a physical assault and by the time your power was concentrated enough to attack, she'll have blasted you out of the sky."  
  
I growled, "But we have an advantage, you can read her mind and tell us when she'll attack."  
  
Scarecrowmon laughed bitterly, "Not if I'm dead and because of my telepathy, *I'll* be the first target!"  
  
Ken scanned the environment, "If Sarabi is electricity-based, then we're sitting ducks! We are surrounded by metal!"  
  
"Best to run and seek cover!" Scarecrowmon shouted. "At least then she may not be able to get a clear shot!"  
  
We ran, staying underneath overhangs and trying to stay in crowds because the little magic master said Sarabi would not be able to see us and her predatory nature would compel her not to waist energy. It seemed to be working, at least we couldn't see her, but the look of fear in my friend's expressive eyes was overwhelming.  
  
"Uh-oh," he muttered.  
  
"Wh-what?" Ken panted.  
  
"She's getting frustrated."  
  
"Uh-oh!" Ken responded.  
  
"There!" Kari shouted and pointed at a small, junkie, cylindrical ship that *might* have been a rusted out cargo ship. Its ground entrance was open.  
  
The blast threw me thirty feet. As soon as I hit the ground, I felt myself Digivolve into the angel, Angewomon. Before I knew it, Stingmon, Scarecrowmon, and I were fighting an aerial battle with a tiger-like beast whose middle name, inherited by custom from her mother, meant "Angel of the Battlefield." And she was, oh, she was strong! One hit forced me back to my Champion level...with a broken rib. I digivolved and tried again. It took me a few knocks upside the head to realize that she was playing with us! And we were losing!  
  
Sarabi, in Sailor Soldier form, had formed a protective barrier of lightening around herself, so no one could get close. She dodged every attack thrown at her, or worse, used her Silence Scythe to rebound them back on us. Then she must have gotten bored because she cried out the name of her attack, Saturn Lightening Strike, and then I was falling right into Scarecrowmon's arms, just like old times.  
  
Scarecrowmon called for a retreat and then ran into the ship with Wormmon, Ken, and Kari tailing behind. A blonde human adult was screaming something, but I couldn't hear her from the ensuing chaos. Scarecrowmon grabbed her arm and then yanked her inside. His reflexes seemed to be faster then anyone else's because he leaped into the pilot's chair and scanned the controls and got frustrated all in record time.  
  
After what seemed like eternity to my pounding heart, he ripped the panel open (much to the protest of the blonde woman) and jammed his fingers into the underlying wires. His green eyes rolled back but remained open, so all you could see was white. I felt the ship start to vibrate and then rumble. Within a few seconds, we were airborne and Sailor Saturn doubtless fell from the skies by the force of the engine's recoil.  
  
At least, until I realized that I underestimated her abilities because someone fired at us in another cargo ship from behind. Scarecrowmon's voice cussed from the ship-wide speakers, but I was too stunned to hear. He was right to be afraid. She-we nearly lost our lives in running. I *never* wanted to try a battle with her again.  
  
I saw some kind of wormhole open up in front of us and we flew straight for it (I was too busy to look at the stars). I felt the world slow down and speed up at the same time. I also felt like I in the dryer after getting into the catnip. We bounced off what might have been walls and each blow felt worse then last, which was already twice as hard as it should have been. To my immense relief, we came to a screeching halt, even though we went with tremendous force. I was in agony by the time we stopped from both the battle and the flight for safety.  
  
Scarecrowmon released his grip on the panel and Ken moaned from somewhere beneath Kari, who was on top of the blonde woman, who was on top of me, who was on top of me, "I think I am going to be sick..."  
  
He perked up a little, "I didn't know you could make a direct mental interface with computers and control them!"  
  
The woman sighed vindictively, "My gosh, you fly Slipstream worse then Trance! You nearly got us killed!"  
  
Scarecrowmon sighed, "Neither did I."  
  
Ken screamed, "NOW I KNOW I'M GOING TO BE SICK!"  
  
We picked ourselves up off the floor to find ourselves staring down the barrel of a very dangerous, futuristic pistol.  
  
"Now I don't know who you guys are or what you think your doing, but if you touch my ship again, I'll-"  
  
"Boss?"  
  
"Beka?"  
  
Two humans, younger then the blonde woman, but older then Kari, Ken, and how Scarecrowmon and Sarabi *looked* (well, I suppose that should go for me, too, but I didn't know it until the day before), jumped down a ladder in the outer hall and stared at us. Alternatively, at least, one was human; the other had pointed ears and gold tones highlighting her otherwise pale-ish skin.  
  
The human, a male, drew his own weapon and stood beside the one he called "boss", "Uh, Beka? Who are they?"  
  
Beka, the woman, answered, "Ain't gotta clue, but they high jacked us, that's good enough for me."  
  
The younger female responded, "No! That's not it at all! They're here to stop that thing that attacked us! Isn't that right?"  
  
Ken shrugged and pointed at Scarecrowmon, "Ask him, he's the brains of the operation."  
  
The red mage looked at the young female and went as stiff as a board and a look of pain and terror crossed his bluish face, and then he fainted sprawled out on the riveted steel floor. About that time, an alarm went off. The magic master had damaged the ship and it was far too disabled to fly.  
  
No one be scared, things don't last long after the main characters die, but can you guess who the "incapacitated asset" is? 


	7. Onboard the Andromeda Ascendant

Chapter seven: Onboard the Andromeda Ascendant  
  
My stories will be on hold for awhile, partly because I'm busy and partly because I like to be a chapter or two ahead of what I post. I might put more on in a few weeks, until then, God bless!  
  
Beka had sent out a distress call to an enormous warship called the Andromeda. We'd only to wait in a *very* awkward silence while Trance set to work on Scarecrowmon. At the time, I didn't know why, but it looked like he was trying to escape from her in his sleep. After twenty minutes, the alien threw up her hands in confused dismay and the Andromeda picked us up, naturally with guns pointed at us from a dark-skinned man and a lighter one. They lead us to a small golden room and the one who identified himself as Captain Dylan Hunt started interrogating.  
  
He wasn't sure where we'd come from, but you could smell his fear and apprehension in the air. He didn't trust us, but he hadn't given us a reason *not* to. He was simply being a "High Guard" captain, as he was trained.  
  
The captain, a big, brown-haired man, listened to our story with neutral disbelief. When we were finished, the ship's holographic A.I. gave him a readout on our status.  
  
"They appear to be telling the truth. However, the cat and the worm, while having vital signs, cause minor disruptions in my sensors, as does the boy in the infirmary. This would be understandable if the two 21st century Japanese humans really mean that they are sentient data," she, Andromeda, reported.  
  
"What about him?" Dylan asked. "Does he pass out often?"  
  
My three companions looked at me and I answered, "No. That's a recent thing, as far as I know. It seems to occur when he senses severe psychic energy."  
  
Andromeda muttered, "Yes. And where would we find that?"  
  
Dylan climbed to his feet and called, "Trance?"  
  
"So they believe us?" Ken asked.  
  
"Seems that way," Wormmon answered.  
  
We'd been on the ship for a few hours and I could feel the apprehension and hostility. These people were clearly used to abuse and we showed the classic signs of an oncoming inter-dimensional battle.  
  
Dylan left the golden-yellow room and the sliding doors shut behind him. I made a motion to follow, but the ship wouldn't open her doors for me.  
  
"You three are confined to quarters for now," she said.  
  
Kari stood up, "But we want to see our friend!"  
  
A stressed, cynical Ken laughed, "Who is 'we'? That little brat has been nothing but rude and sarcastic to me since yesterday!"  
  
My, only yesterday?  
  
"Do you blame him, Ken?" Kari answered. "From the sound of it Gennaii and Sailor Pluto were really paranoid about Sarabi's existence being known! I think that no one has ever come between them before and you have an infatuation with her and he doesn't know how to respond to jealousy!"  
  
Ken glared sharply, "A crush? On a tiger-alien that eats Digidestined with our résumés for lunch? I don't think so."  
  
"You did have plans to make her your empress!"  
  
"That was then, this is now!"  
  
From outside the small room, I heard, "The boy, if that's what he is, woke up as why was getting ready to remove those stitches. He bit me!"  
  
I flung myself at the door, "You tried to--! You didn't--!"  
  
The door opened and I fell flat on my face at the feet of the golden girl, Trance.  
  
"No, I didn't. He bit me and then wouldn't let me come any closer. Here, take a look."  
  
She held her hand out for me to see. I could see quite clearly a ring of red flesh outlined by bleeding teeth-marks. At least nine stripes ran across her hand as if someone tried to tie a bow around it too tight.  
  
"He doesn't like them touched," I explained. "They are part of him."  
  
She almost raised an eyebrow with confusion, "Part of him? Then what are they for?"  
  
I shrugged, "I think just decoration."  
  
Ken laughed, "Ha! Knowing Sarabi, she thinks they're cute."  
  
Wormmon giggled, "See what she means by 'an infatuation'?"  
  
Trance and Dylan led us down the hall to the med deck while Ken had a nice, long nap. The alien (Dylan was more or less human by their time's standards) filled us in on my friend's status.  
  
"I tried to make nice with him, but I couldn't get him to talk. He looked scared and kept his back to me. He never made a sound. Not even squealing to get away. He might have been trying, but I couldn't tell."  
  
The sliding door opened and revealed Scarecrowmon sprawled on the floor with some type of marker, rapidly drawing a complex series of 1's and 0's on the floor.  
  
"Where did he get that?" Dylan hissed.  
  
Trance shrugged, "He's smart, I'll give him that. What's he writing?"  
  
I didn't know, but the numbers looked familiar to me. I had seen something similar before.  
  
It looked like he wrote in the last sequence, because the childlike magic master threw down the marker and ran to the nearest panel where Andromeda makes her presence known. He ripped off the cover and jammed his fingers into the wiring system.  
  
"Dylan?" the ship reported. "I am noticing something strange. It's like someone else is in here with me."  
  
"I am here."  
  
"That was Scarecrowmon?" Kari whispered curiously.  
  
"Get the ship's engineer to translate that code on the floor," my friend ordered via the ship's communications system.  
  
As soon as Harper saw the code on the floor he knew what it was.  
  
"That is a binary code similar to the one that manifests itself as Romm- doll," the young human from the other ship noted.  
  
"My version of a genetic code," Scarecrwomon replied. "Notice something strange?"  
  
"Yeah, the part for communicating is all weird."  
  
"How so?" Kari asked worriedly.  
  
"It's like part is missing to make room for something else."  
  
"In other words, when Gennaii altered me for Digidestined use and improved my fighting ability he messed with something he shouldn't have and permanently damaged me?" my friend asked as if he hadn't known it before.  
  
His body was still jammed into the wall and he looked dead, even though he was breathing and showed all lower brain activity.  
  
Harper scratched his head, "Yeah, kind of. If you could talk before I don't see why it's a problem now, but I don't know anything about your mechanics. But Gatomon said something about you had blackouts before and it came from too much psychic energy."  
  
He spoke to Scarecrowmon like one might a timid child. The boy was brilliant. Scarecrwomon was shy, and seemed especially so then.  
  
"Listen, kiddo, is there something you are trying to tell us?" he asked.  
  
"I can't *hear* anyone. I can't read their minds." 


	8. Weidrness

Chapter eight: Weirdness  
  
I'm back! It's explained in here about Scarecrow and his little flaw, kind of, you know he's likely to not tell the *whole* story. Also, keep this in mind: he was the trial and error, so things happen. I haven't quite yet decided how I'm gonna resolve that situation. Oh, yeah, so my little vacation didn't last as long as I thought it would, oh well.  
  
"So, it seems that a massive dose of psychic energy has shorted out his ability to read minds and therefore his ability to talk?" Dylan mused for the sake of talking. He was ignoring the part that told him we were escapees from the local nuthouse. The captain surveyed the red mage's body tightly gripping Andromeda's wiring. He'd ordered Ken into the room and the younger human boy had not been happy about it.  
  
"What would cause that?" Trance wondered a little distractedly and took a few steps closer to Scarecrowmon, who immediately released his hold on the ship and levitated very quickly skyward and silently and almost fearfully wedged himself into a corner.  
  
"Hmm," the alien muttered. "I think we have our answer. Tell me, did you try and read my mind while we were on the Maru?"  
  
Scarecrowmon didn't answer, but looked away like a dog listening to a high- pitched sound.  
  
She smiled a little sadly and dryly, "I think we have our answer."  
  
She thought for a minute and then said, "I think I'll stay at one end of the Andromeda and he'll be at another at any given time. That *should* help and if it doesn't, drop me off at the nearest planet."  
  
She left the room in a big hurry and Scarecrowmon seemed to relax a little.  
  
Dylan turned to Harper and asked, "Could you rig up something that could interpret his thoughts?" Apparently, the kid was some kind of technological genius and could do stuff like that.  
  
Harper shook his head, "No. I'm a genius and I'm a good lookin' one at that, but I'm not a miracle worker."  
  
Scarecrowmon looked up and slightly off to the right as if he was counting something in his head. Then he flung himself on the floor and started scrawling again.  
  
"Someone get him to stop that!" Rommie hissed angrily.  
  
"What's he writing?" Wormmon asked, scratching an antenna.  
  
Harper scanned the chicken scratch and the accompanying picture, "It's a schematic."  
  
Kens stared t him blankly, "Of what?"  
  
"I don't have a clue, but I'll get to work on making it." 


	9. Harper's Private Lab

Chapter nine: Harper's Private Lab  
  
Gotta question for you two, you'll find it on my bio. Consider it very carefully. Yes, the characters from Secrets will be used, including Scarecrowmon and Sarabi, but it will take place AFTER Secrets. Include your answer in a review for this chapter.  
  
Harper's best pickup line was to a girl named Lyra: "Y'know, back in the old days, 'lyra' meant harp and nobody plays the harp like The Harper!" LoL! But at the end of that episode, he's dialing her number and we hear, "Oh, who was that?" "No one, just some loser looking for Lyra again!"  
  
Harper was a small human in his early- to mid-twenties. His hair was blond, eyes were blue, and he was a little trigger-happy, especially when it came to Magog, as they had recently burrowed into his abdominal cavity. He grew up on Earth, which caused him to grow up a little anti-social and a bit of a survivalist, as it was ruled by Neitzcheans and plagued by Magog.. He was also a bit of a chaser, even though he received less action then Rev Bem.  
  
Not that he wasn't smart, either. The boy was a technical genius. Hand him a nuclear warhead and a coat hanger and he could make you a nova bomb. Still, though, he wasn't perfect.  
  
He thought he was, but that was beside the point.  
  
Harper held the copy of the schematic the "Digital Monster" had drawn. It was impossible. That kind of technology was *WAAAY* too advanced for 21st century Japan. They didn't even have stuff like that today! Oh, well, the incredibly handsome super-genius would have to improvise. Not that he fully believed the kids' story...  
  
Sighing, he went back to smoothing out the metal with a gleaming silver rotary tool.  
  
"Harper," Romm-doll called to him via shipwide intercom, "Are you sure you can duplicate this... being's technology?"  
  
Andromeda. Now *she's* a hottie. Small, dark brown hair, dark skin, dark eyes, beautiful. Aggressive. Smart. Low tolerance for frustration. Just the way Harper liked 'em.  
  
"No, but I can try."  
  
"Harper?"  
  
Harper rammed the rotary tool he was using into his finger. He cussed and tossed it aside. He glanced at the fingertip, drenched in blood but it was nothing.  
  
"Yes?" he hissed in annoyance while sucking his wounded finger. He could work under pressure, just don't aggravate him if there aren't guns going off.  
  
"Do you think these people really do come from a world where data can manifest itself in a physical form?"  
  
"Rommie, my data port lets me come in there with you. *You* are data in a...well, you're not physical, but...Okay, you're a start."  
  
"Maybe, but an entire world where things from inside it can come out and walk around amongst us?"  
  
Harper pressed his lips together, sucked at his wounded finger, and searched around for a first aid kit. He couldn't find it through the mass of Sparky Cola cans, old machine parts, and ripped out pages of naughty magazines. So just how much of these kids' story was true? I mean, Trance can't read minds...can she? Wouldn't be surprised if she could.  
  
Harper continued his search when a slight crash alerted his attention. Perhaps "slight" was not the correct term, because the small child the other kids had brought onboard, Scarecrowmon, was in a heap and trapped beneath a mound of junk. He was fighting his way free, but his red tattered cape was keeping him pinned. Harper immediately ran to his aid, grabbed the junk, and threw it off, letting the boy go free.  
  
"You need to be careful in here, it's dangerous for children," he reprimanded.  
  
Scarecrowmon gave him a look that said quite plainly, "I am not a child." He then pointed to Harper's bleeding finger.  
  
"Oh, this?" Harper said and held it out. "It's no big deal."  
  
The mage placed his fingers together in various rune-like signs that Harper couldn't remember if the Vedran Empress not only had four legs, but was also a hottie, and told him to. Harper watched as the cut sealed itself and left only a small scar.  
  
"Cool. Really, really cool," he ruminated.  
  
Scarecrowmon smiled, something he did with his eyes since they showed what that freaky-looking mouth of his could not.  
  
"HEY!" Harper beamed, "That device you gave me the schematic for. It only translates random thoughts."  
  
Harper looked at the mage's eyes. He had an uneasy look that said he'd probably feel what it's like when he read the minds of others.  
  
"Here," Harper said brightly, "Lemme show you how to put it on."  
  
Harper retreated to where he was working and pulled the tiny micro- microphone from its place in the junk. He returned and made a calm grab for Scarecrowmon's collar. The boy pulled back.  
  
Harper eased, "'S okay. Trance told me what you got under there. I won't touch 'em and I won't try and remove 'em."  
  
The scarecrow stood still while Harper fixed the earpiece over his ear and then handed him a battery compartment that doubled as a speaker..  
  
"Testing...testing...one, two, three. In Xanadu did Kubla Khan...Tiger, tiger, burning bright, in the forest of the night...cool, really, really, cool," the redwine mage whispered through the battery box.  
  
Harper scratched his head, "So what else can you show me how to make?"  
  
The magic master just grinned and reached for a tool.  
  
Wa'cha think, continue with that theme or not? 


	10. Tyr's Recreation Room

Chapter ten: Tyr's Recreation Room  
  
Okay, let's try this again: do you or do you not want me to post a story that takes place AFTER the secrets series?? And by that theme, I mean if you guys know anything about Andromeda, should what he built come back later in the story? And while I'm at it- Kyer Prince=LaCroix, they were played by the same actor. Prince came from Lexx, so who sired LaCroix?  
  
Dylan Hunt was a little smaller the Tyr Anasazi, with lighter brown hair and wrinkles forming around his eyes and mouth. A metal staff, barely two feet long, hung from his belt, called a forcelance. Just to show his position, or maybe to intimidate the young guests, he wore a red gold- trimmed High Guard uniform shirt with matching gold-tan pants. He jogged laps around the deck of the Andromeda, working off extra steam and frustration. He didn't seem to care about changing his clothes.  
  
Sure, Rommie said the children were truthful and harmless, but the description of the beast they were chasing! Sure, the kid's accounts had been vague, even lax, but doubtless the children were not trained to be so observant and they might be traumatized! Dylan did have to give credit to the kids; they were strong, emotional and physical. The girl alone looked like she had spent some time in a hostile environment without knowing where her next meal came from, but that seemed to be a long time ago.  
  
The three creatures the children brought on board were clearly a headache waiting to happen. How many had they brought on board out of diplomacy or kindness that had tried to kill them and/or run away with the Andromeda to use her to take over the universe?  
  
"My sentiments exactly," deeper, somehow colder voice whispered, accompanied by the sounds of heavy feet thudding against hard metal flooring.  
  
Tyr Anasazi was a much bigger man with dark dreadlocks spilling down his back. He was a Neitzchean from the "extinct" Kodiak pride, who bred themselves for physical perfection (I prefer Harper myself-Elendil) and it showed. He was a walking slab of muscle and bone wrapped in dark skin and given brown eyes. His arms once had bonespurs, a Neitzchean trademark, which grew from within the bone, but after a freak accident involving inter- dimensional predators, they were no more.  
  
"What do you mean, Tyr?" Dylan asked in false innocence.  
  
Tyr shrugged as he jogged, "How can you tell that these children are telling the truth? Okay, so the ship says they are, but it also says that the two animals and the young one disrupt her sensors."  
  
"Is there something else that bothers you?"  
  
"I don't like the idea of having a mind-reader on board."  
  
The captain laughed, "He says he can't read them anymore."  
  
The Kodiak snorted, "Yeah, and how often does Trance tell you the *part*, let alone *all*, of the story?"  
  
Dylan ducked his head and thought for a minute, "I think they're harmless."  
  
"Yeah, you thought the lunatics were just asphyxiated, remember that?" How could anyone forget a herd of schizophrenics running around loose on the Andromeda chanting, "We want Harper! We want Harper!"?  
  
:30~  
  
Tyr flexed his steroid-laden arms upward, carrying with them a huge weight. He strained and grunted against the pressure, but continued to work out strenuously. Everyone had their own daily routine: Dylan jogged, Harper tinkered, Trance grew things, and Beka did regular maintenance on her ship. Tyr worked to strengthen his body so he could impress a Neitzchean female and get her pregnant to spread his genes and therefore achieve immortality.  
  
It's a Neitzchean thing, cluges* wouldn't understand.  
  
The Kodiak and keeper of the bones of Drago Mousevenni was lost in thought. As a Neitzchean and the weapons expert, it was his job to be paranoid and did anyone else hear guns going off in the near future?  
  
All of a sudden, Tyr was aware of two bright green eyes staring at him. The little scarecrow sat on a Bowflex-like machine and watched with immense curiosity. A wire ran from his ear to under his collar. Tyr scoffed and ignored him to resume his weightlifting. The soul of the Nietzchean is this: we are arrogant, we are selfish, we are manipulative, and we love our children; we just don't love anyone else's. A tiny grunt grabbed his attention again and the "child" had a minute weight and was trying his hardest to copy Tyr, though his efforts were futile. He strained heavily on the weight and was barely able to lift bone- shaped object without dislocating his shoulder. He fell over, collapsed in a fit of painful gasps, and rubbed his tiny shoulder.  
  
In spite of himself, the Nietzchean laughed. He approached the timid child and said, "No, no. You're going to hurt yourself, try this."  
  
It was then that Tyr remembered a small, round, brown, smiling face of a child that he wouldn't see until years in the future when his son united the Neitzchean prides.  
  
The face of Telemachus Anasazi of Orca Pride, out of Freya of Orca Pride by Tyr Anasazi of Kodiak Pride, the genetic reincarnation of Drago Mousevenni.  
  
*Cluge (n) - Impolite term for anything not genetically perfect, essentially anything non-Neitzchean.  
  
Kinda sweet, huh? Tear does have a heart! ^_^ 


	11. Beka's Eureka Maru

Chapter eleven: Beka's Eureka Maru  
  
Beka Valentine relaxed in her pilot's chair in the ship she had inherited from her father. She, too, wondered about the children brought onboard. There story, while it made sense, didn't seem possible. Digital monsters? How could a whole world exist inside a computer? Okay, so Andromeda was little more then a weak version of these creatures, but a whole world? Beka didn't trust them.  
  
She tapped the touch-screen buttons again and ran the diagnostics test. Shoot! She wasn't sure what the little psycho had done, but it had thoroughly messed the ship up!  
  
Someone tapped Beka's shoulder and the little red one received a gun in his face. He merely pushed it away and smiled, not fazed at all by the object. Perhaps he didn't know that a single blast from the smart bullets could take his tiny head off...  
  
After Beka gave it some thought, perhaps not.  
  
The boy smiled and pointed to a conglomeration of red, white, and yellow wires sticking from the control panel of the Maru. The unnaturally blonde woman hadn't noticed them before.  
  
"Well, you're a smart little guy, aren't you? What else do you know about cargo ships?"  
  
Scarecrowmon smiled the mysterious smile. He gave an impression that he knew what others didn't. 


	12. Suspiscion

Chapter twelve: Suspicion  
  
"Dylan, are you aware of what Scarecrowmon has been doing the past few hours?" Andromeda asked the 343-year-old captain, who was leaning in his chair polishing his forcelance.  
  
Dylan looked up and brushed his brown hair out of his eyes, "Who do I have to shoot?"  
  
"No one that I've noticed. It's just that the little charmer has won over everyone on board except you and Trance."  
  
Dylan scoffed, "Why not me and Trance?"  
  
Andromeda rolled her eyes, "Because it hurts him for Trance to be near and you have a weakness for small children anyway."  
  
The captain rolled his eyes, "So what? Is a mute child going to stage a takeover of a High Guard battleship?"  
  
The holographic image shrugged, "I don't know. I just know that he *claims* to have been able to read minds, can enter my AI, and everyone- Harper, Beka, and *Tyr*--suddenly think he's cute."  
  
:30~  
  
Trance Gemini, gold and cream enigma, clipped again at the bonsai tree. She grunted and then dropped her golden brown head. This was bad. This was really, really bad.  
  
No one knew that much about Trance. They knew that she could *sometimes* see the future, but not always, and that was mostly it. They knew to trust her judgment. They should have known to get the Digidestined Children as far away from the Andromeda as possible. 


	13. Preist and a Mage

Chapter thirteen: Priest and a Mage  
  
AS OF JUNE FIRST 2001, I HAVE FINNALY SEEN SORCERIMON!!! WIZARDMON/SCARECROWMON/SORCERIMON ARE DIGIMON KINGS OF CUTENESS! Why don't they make plushies?  
  
The Magog are a species of bipedal parasitic-carnivores, covered in curly brown fur, with vicious claws and poison glands hidden in their batlike faces. As babies, they are laid in your stomach as larvae and hatch only to eat their way out and kill their host. As adults, they lay larvae in another's stomach to continue the cycle of killing. They were created by a something called "The Spirit of the Abyss", possibly as its shock troops. Clearly, they were designed to kill out of need, because your attack dog only knows how to kill, but if it is *necessary* to kill...well, the circumstances are a bit different.  
  
Reverend Bem was just like every other Magog...except that he was a priest and had taken the way of peace versus violence. This choice made him an outcast among most Magog, but Rev rarely to almost never cared. After seeing where his people came from...well, there are times when a man, even an alien one, knows too much about himself. Ever since then, he felt lost, and thus left the crew. When he returned, he stayed for a short period of time and...changed.  
  
He still stood about five feet, but most of the fur was gone, replaced by a mane of silky brown hair that fell past his humanoid shoulders. His nose was still Magog-like, but more pallid and...human. In fact, Rev could pass for a deformed human.  
  
Or a human-Magog halfbreed.  
  
Overall, the dear reverend was cheerful, considering the ordeal he had just endured. As he stepped into the greeting room just outside the docking bay, he placed his small bags of meager personal items on the floor and blinked around. It had been so long! The creature smiled, showing off humanoid, though pointed, teeth. It felt like coming home to a hot meal and good friends.  
  
A slight thud brought the priest back to reality. Harsh reality. Rev glanced to his left and saw a streak of blood-scarlet cloth face down on the floor, where it had perched on a chair and then fallen. The chair was overturned and across the child's (?) back, pinning the little one there.  
  
Rev liked small children. He had a soft spot for all kinds. The Devine loved all things, why shouldn't His followers?  
  
Rev Bem bent down to aid the child and heard it (he couldn't tell if it was male or female, for it covered itself entirely) rambling o itself in a mechanical manner, though the tense in which he (upon listening, Rev decided that the child was male, for his voice was distinctly so) spoke was clear.  
  
"NO! Nonononon! Don't come near me! Don't touch! Sarabi! Saturn! Hurt! Whywhywhy?"  
  
"Its okay, child, I'm not going to hurt you!" Rev tried to console, feeling if perhaps he frightened the lad because he was still Magog-like.  
  
"No, Rev, it isn't you, it's me!" a femine, all-too-familiar voice called from the doorway to Andromeda's outer halls. Rev twisted his neck over his shoulder and demanded a clarification from the golden beauty enigma staring at him with his eyes.  
  
Trance pointed at the child, writhing and squealing in an almost inhuman manner (he was human, right?) and ordered in a tight, fearful voice, "Pick him up. Get as much distance between me and Scarecrowmon as possible." Then softer, quieter, "Please, Rev, he won't let me near him. I hurt his fragile mind when I do."  
  
The alien female then twisted her own head to her shoulder and whispered into her comn unit, "Kari, we have a problem. Scarecrowmon is down here, was when I came to greet an old friend-"  
  
The voice on the other end shouted, "Oh, no! Okay, I'll be down there shortly!" followed by a sound of thudding feet on a higher deck above Rev's head. Trance didn't say a word, but about-faced and disappeared as fast as she could and left Rev to wonder what madness had overtaken the ship in his absence (he was, of course, the ship's acting counselor when he had been a member).  
  
:30~  
  
As long as he was quiet, no one really minded Scarecowmon's presence. In fact, a few seemed to like it. See, it is hard to feel danger from a thing that cannot talk and is as cute as a button, despite a deformity, or what everyone else considered thus.  
  
Phantom Mesmer perched in the ventilation shaft just above the conference room where the whole crew talked. Kari and the others had been confined to quarters, but such limitations were of little or no concern to one who carried the nickname "Phantom", as in "The Phantom of the Opera."  
  
He listened as Dylan greeted the new arrival with a warm hug and a handshake, like a brother he hadn't seen in years.  
  
"Good to see you, Rev. What's going on? Why aren't you with the Haigira?"  
  
Trance nodded while Beka shifted her feet, "Yeah, I kinda wanted to know that, too."  
  
Rev's smiling, devout Wayist face suddenly looked old, grey, and haunted. He sat down very carefully and slowly, and mumbled, "A girl came from the skies with a horde of Magog. She...released her pets upon them. The Haigira, the Warrior-Preists...they could not hope to when. The tiger- creature had nearly everyone slaughtered."  
  
A crash echoed far and wide as Scarecrowmon fell from his perch and tumbled to the floor in a pile of twisted metal. 


	14. More Weidrness, This Time With Meatloaf

Chapter fourteen  
  
:30~ Kyer, do you recognize the name "Lisa Ryder"? She was on Forever Knight at one point and stars as Captain Beka Valentine on Andromeda, but she ain't a redhead anymore ^_^.  
  
Scarecrowmon opened his eyes to stare directly into the eyes of a crew of BIG humans. Not to mention a screaming headache. Before any of the people could bend down to touch him, the spellcaster started backing away in a crabwalk, trying his HARDEST to get away.  
  
A little amused, a little sad, the source of the Digimon's pain muttered, "Rev, this is...a new friend of sorts. He...uh...knows the woman that came from the sky."  
  
The priest blinked and bent down to seize Scarecrowmon, who retaliated by means of a fire spell, just harsh enough to allow him to slip away.  
  
:30~ "On a hot summer night, would I offer my throat to the tiger with the red roses? On a hot summer night, would I offer my throat to the tiger with the red roses? On a hot summer night..."  
  
"How long has he been doing that?" the half-Magog asked the skinny, Oriental, human female.  
  
Kari shrugged, "Since you let him get away in the conference room. It's like...Harper said the thing that lets him talk only translates random thoughts, so he is trying-"  
  
"-not to think about something that could get us all killed," Ken finished for my friend.  
  
All of us, Kari, the alien, and me, turned around and stared at him where he just came down a ladder to gawk at a red humanoid facing a wall and chanting a warped version of Meatloaf to himself.  
  
The dark-haired boy shrugged, "Think about it, we would be sitting ducks if not for him. We wouldn't know where Sarabi was, and she'd have blasted us. Clearly, he uses this talent to find out secrets, but he keeps his own. Now that the situation is reversed, he feels a little scared. Now why would that be?"  
  
I shrugged, too. The former genius had a point, but...I had a hard time thinking of cute, little, red Scarecrowmon of withholding secrets that could get us killed.  
  
Wait a sec, how much did I know about him? We were slaves together, and yet he withheld the most important secret of his life, knowing full well that I was just like him THE WHOLE TIME!  
  
Or perhaps I wasn't just like him. Scarecrowmon could read minds in all forms. If Genaii *had* toggled with the little one's data, why had he not done the same with every one of us? Was it simply because Scarecrowmon was made for Sarabi, his goddaughter, and the first? Or perhaps is something so small, fair, and...cute the guardian of more firepower than one can deal with?  
  
I remembered Trance, the golden alien, and wondered if perhaps this was her curse as well.  
  
About that time, the big dark-skinned man, Tyr, thudded his way down the hall with his brows knitted. He paused a few feet away from Reverend Bem and simply stared for a few seconds. We stared back, the deathly silence only marked by Scarecrowmon's incessant rambling.  
  
The Nietzchean finally drew a breath and said, "Our captain wants the children to come to the home planet of the Haigira."  
  
:30~  
  
Ken we couldn't pry away from the Maru's windows. He wanted to see all of the thousands of glittering, shiny stars. We were all like that, eager to learn all there was and absorb all its beauty. Rev Bem laughed and our youthful innocence and explained to us the workings of Slipstream, but we couldn't get it anymore than they could grasp the workings of Digiworld.  
  
We must have looked like idiots to the natives.  
  
Scarecrowmon was the only one who seemed unenthused. He immediately crawled under the "dashboard" of the ship and started messing with stuff. Beka didn't seem to mind until music started blaring.  
  
*It was a hot summer night and the beach was burnin' there was fog crawlin' over the sands/when I listened to your heart I heard the whole world turnin'/I could see shooting stars goin' through your velvet hands/*  
  
"Hey!" Beka shouted. "Get out of there!"  
  
I couldn't pry Scarecrowmon from his hiding space. He went oddly silent with his eyes glazed and, though he unhooked Harper's device, he seemed to be singing with it.  
  
*You took the words right out of my mouth/oh, it must have been while you were kissin' me*  
  
Beka fiddled with a switch and the music wouldn't turn off.  
  
"Well, the kid must like this song," Ken Huffed. Wormmon smiled and danced with the music. Kari seized Scarecrowmon by his hands and tried to dance with him.  
  
He looked a little startled at first, but since he could levitate, he had no problems.  
  
"Okay, guys, settle down, we're about to go into Slipstream. You, uh, may want to grab onto something," Beka ordered over her shoulder.  
  
Scarecrowmon stopped dancing and held is place in midair, I sat on Kari's lap as she wedged herself and Wormmon into a corner.  
  
Ken was the only one who didn't listen and he was knocked flat by the twisting.  
  
:30~  
  
I smelled blood as we landed. As soon as Rev stepped from the ship, he hung his head.  
  
"The Haigira are a peaceful people. They didn't deserve to die."  
  
Gently, Scarecrowmon took the priest's hand and whispered through his mechanical vice box, "In you they live."  
  
Rev smiled at the boy and pointed to where a bunch of makeshift tents clustered together.  
  
Inside them was a horror story. Every writhed in pain on beds, clawing at their stomachs and screaming. They were pale and sweating, some even begged to die, other simply chanted, "In they I live. In they I live. In they..."  
  
"That's how Magog reproduce, by placing larvae inside living hosts."  
  
It was nothing to Scarecrowmon and I, who had seen things just as bad, but Ken, Kari, and Scarecrowmon ran outside the tent and I heard the sounds of them being violently ill.  
  
I thought that it was Kari and the others coming back, but when I turned around, this hair *thing* was staring at me.  
  
He paused at me for only a few seconds and then turned to Rev and handed him a small device, saying, "The creature left this behind. I was spared because I was instructed to give it to you."  
  
Soldier's guilt, I realized. The guilt of having lived when your comrades died.  
  
Rev stared at the small metal object for a few minutes and then muttered, "I must show this to Dylan." 


	15. Endgame

Chapter fifteen  
  
Harper held the small plastic box in his hands, turning it over and over again; inspecting every square inch of it. His brows knitted in confusion.  
  
Dylan leaned over his shoulder, "What is it?"  
  
The engineer shrugged, "Near as I can tell...uh...a, uh, hologram device. But I don't see how you can start it."  
  
A flash of red darted across the hall in midair and snatched the black box from the human. Scarecrowmon sat in a corner with his back to the crew, but facing Kari, Ken, Wormmon, and I. He looked it over for a few seconds and then pulled down his cowl. Next, he removed his glove and bit his finger until it bled. He let the crimson liquid fall over the black box until it started to glow. Scarecrowmon yelped and ran behind me and Kari to hide, peeking out from behind my friend's legs.  
  
The glow dimmed a little and Sarabi appeared, in full Sailor garb, grinning darkly and sarcastically at us. Her fur was as dark as the depths of space, her wings were leather and satin. Her stripes, streaks of lightening and her eyes, wild and fierce, glimpses into the pits of evil and darkness.  
  
The naganata tied to her back gleamed, silvery-gold and deadly. Her claws shone, black meathooks, and her teeth famed a tongue that appeared now and again.  
  
She was completely feral, ferocious, and menacing.  
  
I raised my claws, but Scarecrowmon tapped them gently.  
  
"My, gosh," Harper breathed. "It's a hologram, but it's so real!" Ken breathed a startled gasp and Kari stared dumbstruck. I did, too. We had to fight *that*?  
  
The hologram laughed, "So you're the crew of the Andromeda Ascendant. How amusing."  
  
Dylan grunted.  
  
"Ken can tell you that I like a good fight. It's more fun if you put up a struggle, though."  
  
Scarecrowmon let out a growl that would freeze salt water.  
  
"I aim to kill you all. But, I wanna have a little fun when I do."  
  
The fiendish image of the Valkyrie female shifted, showing twenty planets linked together by artificial structures. The planets varied in size from Earth to Jupiter, and I felt repulsion to them. In the nucleus of the structure, a yellow sun blazed.  
  
Dylan cussed beneath his breath, "The Magog World-Ship,"  
  
:30~  
  
"NONONONO!" Harper screamed on the command deck. "There is NO WAY we are going back there!"  
  
"We have to," Wormmon answered, riding on Ken's shoulder. "The future of the Multiverse depends on it."  
  
Harper shrugged, "Yeah, I know, but...Magog? Have you ever been in the middle of a Magog swarm?"  
  
I laughed vindictively, "Have you ever spent your entire childhood in the castle of a monster? Have you ever watched him feed off creatures that didn't deserve his 'kindness'? Have you watched him kill off your allies?" I glanced at Scarecrowmon, "And your friends, and then found the strength, the inner courage, to defy all you were taught, not to fight back, not to challenge his authority, and then to strike him down in one fatal blow, aided by those that were ten minutes ago your hated enemies?"  
  
Beka stared at me blankly with her arms crossed, Scarecrowmon smiled at me. The human, the pilot, crossed to the pilot "seat" (a place for her to stand with a set of joysticks) and said, "Okay, World-Ship it is."  
  
:30~  
  
Dylan braced himself and drew his forcelance and heard...nothing. Whatever he listened for didn't happen. He looked relieved when it...didn't happen.  
  
"What are you listening for?" Kari asked, sitting at his feet.  
  
"Swarm ships," the brown-haired man answered.  
  
"Yeah, well it doesn't seem like that's going to happen any time soon," Beka announced.  
  
The ships voice echoed over hidden speakers, "I am detecting no ships of any kind."  
  
"Sarabi's waiting on us," Ken mused from beside Tyr at the weapon's console.  
  
Harper raised an eyebrow and stared at him.  
  
The dark-haired shrugged, "She's a predator and set a trap. Trust me, I know, she's rammed my face into the sidewalk enough times to drill her hunting style into my face like a tattoo."  
  
I was then the one that stared. Ken summed it all up so quickly and...hunting style? Was she really that violent, that predatory? (:30~ I think her fight with Riku in my KH fic sums that up.)  
  
The android, Rommie entered the room from the sliding doors at the back and announced, "I think we need to pay a visit to the armory."  
  
:30~  
  
The smell of death and rot. Stink of biological waste and stagnation. It was overpowering, overwhelming. I shifted my paws. It made me uncomfortable, like being back in Myotsimon's castle. I could tell by the way that Scarecrowmon clung to Kari that he felt it, too.  
  
"Okay, Rev," Scarecrowmon's mechanical voice box started, "Where is the...boss of this place at?"  
  
Dylan blinked his brown eyes, then seized Scarecrowmon, and pushed the little guy against a wall, "Okay, I'm going to be very, very clear: can you or can you not read my mind?"  
  
Scarecrowmon's jewel eyes darted back and forth in absolute terror. My friend looked as pale as a ghost and as scared as a mouse in a cat show. He took a deep breath and then answered, "Yes."  
  
Dylan dropped him, turned around, and groaned, "Well, that was about as clear as mud!"  
  
Scarecrowmon giggled a little, sending the captain into a rage. He kicked the stone wall and hit it violently.  
  
"NO! Don't you DARE laugh. We are in the WORST PLACE to be at and I can't get a straight answer out of you!"  
  
He sighed, "At least Trance tells me the information I need to stay alive."  
  
Ken and Wormmon's eyes widened as they stifled back a scream. They faced behind me and all I could see was Rev draw his forcelance. When I did turn around, I saw one of them.  
  
He was about five feet tall and covered in curly, dark fur with clawed fingers. His nose looked as if someone had cut it off and it was still raw.  
  
A Magog.  
  
I raised my claws, but again, Scarecrowmon pushed them down. The creature stared at us, cocked its head, sniffed the air, and then ambled away down the anthill-like planet.  
  
Scarecrowmon blinked, "Angel told them not to engage. We should be safe-"  
  
"-until the young lady decides to kill us all," Rev and Ken finished for him.  
  
:30~  
  
Miles of dark tunnels stinking of death. Miles of wiggling, squirming, eating bodies. Miles of torment, that's what it was. I didn't know whether I would be a meal or a host every time I turned a corner.  
  
Finally, our guide, the priest, paused and told us to stop. We were near a junction and could hear voices coming from within. Our little party peeked inside, precisely the way they do in cartoons, with a row of heads lining a doorway, Scarecrowmon on the bottom and Dylan on the top.  
  
It looked like a living lava lamp. Its body was light, glowing, writhing purple-and-red. Its eyes were two glowing coals set into a shapeless form.  
  
"MESMER!" a vehement tone called from behind us. It was Trance. Scarecrowmon turned his supple neck around to see her and immediately grabbed his skull.  
  
"PLANTGIRLBADPAINOWIE!" he hissed and then apparently gave him a mental slap on the cheeks.  
  
"Trance! What are you doing here?" Dylan hissed.  
  
"I wanted to watch!" the alien defended and Ken and Rev motioned for her to come and sit.  
  
We reverted our attention to the scene unfolding in front of us.  
  
The Lava Lamp, which I later found out was the Magog deity, the "Spirit of the Abyss", muttered, "Such a rare flower should not spend her time in a dark pit such as this."  
  
Its voice was human, male, and I could *feel* the intelligence. Confusion filled my brain. What was hit---it---talking to?  
  
She came into the limited field of view. Five feet of solid sinew and bone. Able to control electricity, fast, hard, and cold.  
  
Sarabi.  
  
Aptly called "Growltiger".  
  
She smiled coolly, "I have my reasons for being here."  
  
The two neared each other.  
  
"If you are so powerful," the Abyss crooned, "why don't you take care of our little pest problem?"  
  
The catlike female grinned seductively, "My master says that I am not to take them head on."  
  
The Abyss seemed to smile at her. They were so close, touching. His hands grazed her cheek and their lips neared each other.  
  
"On a hot summer night..." Sarabi started.  
  
Scarecrowmon went rigid. His eyes bulged and rage permeated the air. Before anyone could stop him, he digivolved.  
  
BlackMagemon.  
  
A pint-size Vaccine with a Viral attitude.  
  
He was in the room before he was stopped, hovering in midair with a silver and black staff aimed at the pair.  
  
Sarabi hissed and grabbed at her arm. A black band spiraled its way up her arm, sparking. It was shorting out.  
  
"Sarabi, stop this. Come home," BlackMagemon ordered.  
  
Sarabi laughed coldly.  
  
"Sorry, I have what I want."  
  
She returned her attention to the Abyss. His figure solidified, becoming more solid. It took on a purple hue and its spine lengthened into a tail. He looked like a human who had fallen into grape Kool-Aid, except for the tail.  
  
"Mesmer, stop this!" Trance shouted. BlackMagemon glanced at her funny, but then realized that the alien had been addressing the Abyss.  
  
Sarabi snigger unfeelingly and grazed the Abyss's, Mesmer's, face. He placed his arms around her waist.  
  
"See ya," she laughed. In a flash of smoke and light, she was gone.  
  
BlackMagemon faltered in midair. He began glowing again as he drifted slowly down and when he touched the ground, it was Scarecrowmon who felt the texture of the stone. His tears stained the ground as he crouched their on his small hands and knees.  
  
I was at his side before I knew what happened.  
  
"My gosh," he breathed. "She's not on a killing spree. She's a recruiter."  
  
:30~  
  
As of Wednesday, June 4, 2003, Fear and Loathing In---Well, Just Fear and Loathing, named for my favorite episode of Andromeda is completed.  
  
So, what'cha think? 


End file.
